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Swedish death metal institution Unleashed recently celebrated their 35th anniversary as a band but they’re not slowing down. In fact, the Viking metal champions just released their 15th album, Fire Upon Your Lands, and Decibel caught up with founding bassist/vocalist Johnny Hedlund to talk about it, plus maintaining Unleashed’s classic lineup, touring and what’s changed in the music industry since 1989.
You can check out a few videos from Fire Upon Your Lands below and head to the Napalm Records store for merch and physical copies.
This is your 15th album since 1991. Do you have difficulties coming up with new ideas or does the songwriting process still happen pretty naturally for Unleashed?
I will say that this is a pretty natural process. In fact, it has been a part of our lives now for some 37 years, and counting. I don’t know how things would be otherwise… like… not thinking about the next song or album sounds pretty strange really. I mean, I was very young when that was my life. But then… I thought of other bands’ songs instead, so…
Fire Upon Your Lands is thematically connected to previous Unleashed albums – can you explain the story and where we’re picking up?
We are still continuing the storyline from the book The World of Odalheim that a friend and I wrote many years ago. It was never finished nor published so I decided to translate the chapters into songs, so to speak. The story is about the Midgard Warriors’ struggle for their way of life against the main enemy, White Christ. On the previous album, the hunt for White Christ ended in and around Mount Sinai. And so, this album starts exactly where the previous one left off in the story.
This is Unleashed’s fourth album in the last decade, so the band is always working on new material. Is your writing process a gradual accumulation of ideas or does the band block out specific time to write new music?
We write music and lyrics all the time. Perhaps not within six months of a new release, but then the next cycle starts. But we never rush things, it takes the time it takes. I think perhaps Fredrik (Folkare, guitar) sets out specific times for it more than I do. I have a lyric sheet with me almost at all times.
The members of Unleashed have remained the same for about three decades, which is no small feat in music. How have things changed since you originally got together?
The internet came. I’d say that is the biggest change, for good and for worse of course, but I think the positive things outweigh the negatives. Also, we play mostly festivals these days and not five week-type tours. It is important to stay hungry. Taking care of things outside Unleashed also takes serious time these days.
Unleashed have a few live engagements this summer and fall, but what will the band do after that? Will work begin immediately on a new album?
We will play live shows all year around. We’re booked for next year now and counting. And yes, we will likely start looking into the next album and work on that in 2026, but there is no rush.
Hail Odin!
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